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Voltronic
Voltronic was a heavyweight robot that competed in every season of BattleBots. Builder Stephen Felk was in the audience at the Robot Wars 1996 event, and was inspired to make a robot that combined the best features of two prominent competitiors - La Machine's wedge and BioHazard's lifter. Felk built the robot in his kitchen with a salvaged electric scooter and sheets of aluminum. The end result was a flat and invertible square wedge with a lifting arm. On the end of the arm were a set of retractable claws (similar to one-way tire treadles) that would come out when the lifting arm was raised, making it very difficult for the other robot to slide off the arm. The armor was a highly durable, and stood up to many destructive robots like Razer and Mortis (however, it may have been damaged heavily by M.O.E. in Season 4.0). The robot was originally called Voltarc, but this name had to be changed because the name Voltarc was a trademarked by a lighting company. Voltronic retained the same basic look, but went through several design revisions through the years. The original featured retractable wheel guards that removed invertibility when active, but protected the wheels from crushers and axes. These were removed in the final season. Starting in the Las Vegas Pay-Per-View tournament, Voltarc featured a hinged scoop at the back, which protected its ground clearance, but could strand it off the ground if Voltarc were flipped, which ultimately ended its chances in Season 1.0. In season 5.0, Voltronic had a higher ground clearance than it did before. The robot was defeated by Vlad the Impaler in a staggering three consecutive seasons, but did well overall, finishing as runner up in the Las Vegas Pay-Per-View and Seasons 1 and 5.0. Felk was reputed for his enthusiastic WWE-esque style of interviewing. Robot History Season 1.0 Voltarc returned for Season 1.0 ranked #2. It had every one of its Season 1.0 fights aired on television, and was first drawn up against Bender, after receiving a first round bye. Voltarc immediately cruised towards Bender, which was still in its square trying to get its disc up to speed. The initial contact between the 2 Heavyweights caused Bender to drive up Voltarc's wedge but was not enough to tip Bender over. Voltarc then went in for another attack and pushed part of Bender into the spike strips. Voltarc then pushed Bender around the arena for a bit before knocking off Bender's rear-mounted caster wheel, hindering movement and making Bender even less able to hit a target. Bender was then driven into a wall, before Voltarc then used its lifting arm to mount Bender onto a spike strip. Bender escaped, but then drove straight into Voltarc's wedge again. Bender drove over the killsaws, followed by Voltarc. Bender got its disc up to full speed, but was unable to attack Voltarc due to the loss of its caster. Voltarc continued pushing Bender about and eventually won with a 9-0 judges' decision. Voltarc faced BioHazard in the quarterfinals. The match began with both bots moving around each other, and BioHazard almost lifted Voltarc twice. However, the tide turned when Voltarc was able to get underneath BioHazard and lift it up with its articulated arm. BioHazard was completely at Voltarc's mercy for the rest of the match and visited every killsaw in the arena which caused many sparks to fly from BioHazard's armor. Voltarc did this for the entire battle and won by judges decision, 9-0. KillerHurtz was Voltarc's next opponent. KillerHurtz immediately charged across the arena but impaled itself on Voltarc's lifting arm. It could not do anything to retaliate, as its axe was destroyed in a previous bout against Mauler. KillerHurtz was then let free and rammed Voltarc before accidentally driving itself into the killsaws, leaving 2 thin cuts on its front right lexan panel. Both robots charged across the arena, before KillerHurtz bumped into Voltarc and backed off. No damage was done to either robot for a while, as both of them were positioning for an attack. KillerHurtz then drove into the spike strip and lost its top-mounted union jack. It then drove over the killsaws, further damaging it. KillerHurtz continued driving over killsaws, out of control before Voltarc got underneath and activated its lifting arm. KillerHurtz was lifted onto the killsaws, cutting into the electronics. KillerHurtz was unable to do anything and came out of the fight heavily damaged. Voltarc was the clear winner with an 8-1 decision, and moved onto the finals for a rematch against Vlad the Impaler. The fight began with Voltarc charging across the arena, but drove itself onto Vlad the Impaler's lifting forks. Luckily, Voltarc escaped before any pushing was done. Not much happened for a while, before Vlad the Impaler got underneath Voltarc and rammed it so fast Voltarc was flipped upside down. Voltarc attempted to self right itself, but the sri-mech was in the wrong direction so it could not self-right. It tried several times, but to no avail. Vlad the Impaler won by a KO in 1 minute 42 seconds, leaving Voltarc a runner-up for a second season in a row. Season 2.0 Voltarc, following a copyright dispute with a lighting company, was forced to change its name into Voltronic for Season 2.0. Other than the name change, the robot wasn't changed much from Season 1.0, aside from the lifting arm now having 3 impaling spikes rather than one. Like every other heavyweight that competed in Season 2.0, it received a first-round bye due to many heavyweights not competing. Its first true fight was against Dreadbot. Voltronic immediately charged at Dreadbot, but Dreadbot fired its pneumatic ram in an attempt to dissuade Voltronic. Voltronic dodged Dreadbot's attacks and plowed under it, lifting Dreadbot off the ground. Dreadbot still retained good traction on the ground despite this as both robots continued to ram into each other. Dreadbot then managed to get a couple good shots in the back and side of Voltronic, but caused only superficial damage. Both robots drove over the killsaws, and Dreadbot received a few holes in its body. More pushing put Voltronic over the killsaws, after failing to lift Dreadbot onto them. Eventually, Voltronic got a good hold on Dreadbot and placed it under the Pulverizer, which made several large dents in Dreadbot's armor. Time ran out and Voltronic won on a dominant 35-10 decision, placing it into the round of 16 against Bigger Brother. In this fight Voltronic controlled the match from the beginning, using the killsaws and Pulverizers to its advantage. With seconds remaining Voltronic flipped Bigger Brother against the wall. Voltronic won on a 43-2 judge's decision and advanced to the quaterfinals against FrostBite. Voltronic immediately charged at FrostBite, but misses, and FrostBite started pushing Voltronic from the back. Voltronic was managed to escape and started pushing FrostBite. Voltronic then drived its front wedge into the killsaws, with FrostBite doing the same on the other side, with Voltronic behind it. It became a pushing match until finally, Voltronic got underneath FrostBite and started lifting it to the killsaws, but accidentally backs over. Voltronic backs up on the exit ramp and started pushing FrostBite against the wall until the time ran out. Voltronic won on a 27-18 judge's decision and was advanced to the semifinals. However, for the third competition in a row, Voltronic was pitted up against the two-time heavyweight champion Vlad the Impaler. Season 3.0 Due to being a previous semifinalist, Voltronic was allowed to skip the preliminary rounds of Season 3.0, where it eventually fought Greenspan. In the match, Voltronic immediately lifted Greenspan and dragged it around the BattleBox. Greenspan tried to get around the wedge of Voltronic, but Voltronic managed to lift the side of Greenspan and dragged it to the pulverizer. Greenspan took 30 seconds of hits from the pulverizer. Greenspan eventually stopped moving and was counted out. This KO advanced Voltronic to the round of 16 against Bacchus. Wins/Losses * Wins: 16 * Losses: 8 Trivia * Toro and Voltronic appeared in a episode of Nash Bridges named Blood Bots. Category:Heavyweight Robots Category:BattleBots Competitors Category:Robots in the Combat Robot Hall Of Fame Category:Robots armed with lifting weapons Category:Heavyweight Runner-Ups Category:Heavyweight Semifinalists Category:Heavyweight Quarterfinalists Category:Robots profiled in The Official Guide Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Invertible Robots Category:Royal Rumble Participants Category:Robots that fought on television